Dr. Millard Niver served as the Malone wrestling coach from 1971 to 1978, guiding the Pioneers to seven consecutive Mid-Ohio Conference Titles and two NAIA District Runner-up finishes (1976 & 1978). Niver earned a certification from Buffalo Bible Institute in Buffalo, New York in 1956 before graduating from Taylor University in 1960 with undergraduate degrees in Mathematics, Chemistry and History along with a minor in Religion. He went on to earn a Master's degree in Mathematics from Purdue University in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Kent State University in 1976. Niver graduated from Bradford High School in Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1952.
Under Niver's guidance, Pioneer wrestlers captured numerous MOC and District Championships while over 25 individuals qualified for the NAIA National Championship Meet, including an impressive total of seven national qualifiers in 1976.
Niver recruited and coached all five of Malone's Athletic Hall of Famers in wrestling, including Dennis Baker, Pioneer wrestling's only two-time NAIA All-American and a 1976 Olympic Trials qualifier, and Dale Baker, who was an AAU All-American, won a bronze medal at the 1975 AAU Junior Olympics and a silver medal at the 1976 AAU Junior World Championships (with a spot on the 1976 U.S. Junior World Team).
In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Niver also served as a Mathematics professor at Malone from 1967-1996 and was a longtime director of the institution's chapter of the Sigma Zeta National Science & Mathematics Honor Society. He currently serves as the Board Chairman of the CSE Federal Credit Union, a position he has held for nearly 20 years. Niver and his wife, Thelma, recently celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. The couple resides in Navarre and has three grown children, Denise (Mathias), Brett Niver and Nanette (Nino) along with five grandchildren (Erin, Rachel, Breanne, Angela and Enrique) and one great-grandson (Aiden).
